Check Mates

a new quilt journey

Earlier this year Anna Maria Textiles released a gorgeous woven fabric collection called Check Mates. I count myself super lucky to have received a fat quarter bundle.

Like most wovens, these are incredibly soft. A quilt sewn exclusively with these fabrics would have a fantastic, luxurious hand.

I notice that each large scale checkers print coordinates beautifully with a small scale check. I could make a two-fabric block such as Churn Dash or the Economy block or the Sawtooth Star. Hm…

I guess that after sewing Lady Gemma, with a coordinating fat quarter bundle, I am craving something scrappier today.

I love the large scale checkers prints from Anna Maria’s Check Mate bundle in big slices, so I’ve cut 10.5” squares. I could cut two squares from each fat quarter. Arranged like so I’ll get a 60” finished quilt. What if I make scrappy postage stamp blocks for the squares in between?

That sounds fun! I start cutting enthusiastically into my bin of small, multicolored scraps. Everything that can become a 2.5” square goes in!

These prints have a range of values, from light to dark. However, arranged like this I see that they lean towards pinks/purples/blues rather than containing the whole rainbow. No bright red or grass green, for example. Maybe an all-colors-in scrap approach won’t suit these fabrics, after all?

It will be a controlled scrappy theme then. I have soooo many scraps that I can easily curate my choices to coordinate with the Check Mate base. I’ve placed possible multicolor scraps in the grid. Now I’ll add single color scraps to fill things out.

I can’t wait to sew my first block!